This invention relates generally to coin operated gaming machines, also known as slot machines, and in particular to a coin operated gaming machine wherein a coin or a value input device, a start lever, a primary gaming unit, a secondary gaming unit to provide a bonus game, and a currency validating module are provided. The primary gaming unit could be a conventional machine having a plurality of rotating reels, a card gaming machine, or of the type disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/917,129 as filed in the Patent Office on Aug. 14, 2004, inventor Nabil N. Ghaly, 36 pages of text, 28 drawing sheet; i.e., based on random assignment and manipulation of binary numbers, and the generation of corresponding displays at a plurality of playing positions.
There are many conventional slot machines that enable a player to activate a lever, which in turn causes a plurality of reels to spin and ultimately stop to display a random combination of some form of indicia at one, or a plurality of pay lines. If this display contains one of a pre -selected plurality of winning combinations, the machine releases money into a payout chute or onto a credit meter for the player. A number of these machines offer the player a second opportunity to win in the form of a bonus game. Such bonus game is operable when one or more reels of the primary gaming unit stop on certain predetermined indicia at an activated pay line. The bonus game can then be activated by the player, and may result in additional winning payouts.
Since it is desirable to offer players games that they have not played before, it is one object of the current invention to offer players a new game that provides excitement and additional opportunities to receive winning payouts.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an interactive bonus game based, wherein a plurality of words are hidden in a playfield, and are uncovered during the bonus game by shifting alphabet characters along columns, rows, and/or diagonal axes.
It is still an object of this invention to provide a bonus game for a slot machine that includes a playfield having a plurality of playing positions, wherein each playing position is used to display a character of the alphabet, wherein at least one word is hidden on the playfield, wherein playing positions are shifted with respect to each other during the bonus game, wherein said shifting of playing positions is stopped at random to uncover hidden words, and wherein a bonus payout amount is associated with each uncovered word.
It is another object of this invention to provide a slot machine, having a field of play that is presented to a player on a CRT or an LCD screen, and which consists of a plurality of playing positions each of which displays a character of an alphabet that may be combined with adjacent letters or characters to form words.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a slot machine with a playfield that includes a plurality of words hidden from the player by a scrambling process that shifts rows and/or columns relative to each other.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a slot machine, having a field of play wherein entire rows of letters are continuously shifting left or right, for a random duration of time, or until stopped by a random process activated by the player.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a slot machine, having a field of play wherein entire columns of letters are continuously shifting up or down, for a random duration of time, or until stopped by a random process activated by the player.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a slot machine with a field of play wherein predetermined words are hidden along horizontal, vertical or diagonal axes.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a slot machine with a field of play wherein a winning payout is provided to the player for each winning word uncovered by the random process of shifting rows and/or columns.
It is another object of the current invention to provide a slot machine with a field of play wherein a predetermined plurality of words are hidden, and wherein a random process is employed to uncover said hidden words, and wherein the player is given a choice to accept or reject the payout associated with uncovered words.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a slot machine with a field of play wherein a random process is used to control the shifting of rows and/or columns, and wherein rows and columns corresponding to winning words accepted by a player are frozen, and prevented from any further shifting.
It is still an object of this invention to provide a slot machine wherein a random process is used to uncover words hidden in a field of play by shifting entire columns and/or rows relative to each other, and wherein the game ends when all rows and columns are frozen, or when the player exhausts a predetermined number of opportunities to reject uncovered winning words.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a bonus game wherein the ultimate objective of the game is for the player to uncover predefined set of hidden words that qualify the player to win the highest prize (jackpot).